Friday, November 23, 2012

I've decided to go with an 8.5 by 11 size for this one -- my original thought was 9 x7 but this may actually prove more cost effective, especially with full color printing, as well as easier to lay out.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Today,
I set up my tripod and photographed all my mother’s larger pieces
of artwork that were available. The smaller pictures had already been
scanned, so I’ll soon be able to start assembling the retrospective
book I’ve been planning. Here’s hoping the photographs came out
properly — I must wait some time while the film is developed.

I
don’t know if I’ll get the book out before year’s end (or
‘Awful Alvin’ either — I haven’t really had time to finish
the illustrations) but it will be published. Then on to other
book projects.

And
other non-book projects. I do intend to record one or two songs for
the Will McLean festival this year. A little over a month to get that
accomplished! I think my niece and sister may attempt to enter the
competition this year too. But they’re even more pressed for time
than me.

Incidentally,
Mary is not performing at the Florida Folk Festival this year. She’ll
be doing an event in Ohio on the Memorial Day weekend.

If
I get a couple songs ready, I will post them online too. The rules
this year call for only one voice and one instrument. No fancy
production allowed. That sounds like it would be easier but
the truth is that I’m better at creating stuff via virtual
instruments and multi-tracking than by live recording. I guess we’ll
see...or hear, actually.

be
thankful or I could curseall
the days until now and allthe
days that stretch aheadand
it will be what it will beas
it was what it was. A feasthas
its chewed bones and the dogwill
be thankful for those.

But
I indulge myself, this day, nomore
than any other. It is notmy
way to heap high my platenor
to return for seconds. Letthe
strangers at my table replacethemselves,
year by year, each likethe
one before, and who they areis
who they are. I toast them all.

See
how the dark meat and the whitehave
been divided, platters of take-your-choice,make-your-choice,
cut carefullyfrom
the carcass of time. There is never
enough time, they say, nor thymein
this stuffing to become fullyseasoned. Feast on these, givingthanks
that it is what it is.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

I was looking through a box of photos by my late Aunt Dorothea and came across this:

Me, at a family get-together, doing what I normally did -- bury my nose in a book. I would guess I'm maybe twelve-ish in this picture. Well, it was at at my grandparents' house and Grandaddy did have a great library. Some of which I now have here.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

This year's Christmas card design, which I should have up at my Cafe Press shop shortly:

This is a bit of art by my mother, signed 'K. Page Brooke' (she didn't always use that signature). Since I've been working on photographing and scanning some of her work, I thought I'd turn this one into a greeting card.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

A couple more snap shots from this past summer -- Tickseed (native Coreopsis) growing along the south fence. I've transplanted a number of these perennials into my own flower beds since.

I've got the Minolta loaded up with slower film now and intend to document some of my mother's art work. Of course, Mom doesn't paint anymore but there is 'body of work' to be preserved. I might even put out a small retrospective book.

Monday, November 12, 2012

In
the aftermath of the elections, it would appear that the Obama health
care program will go forward as planned, despite ‘conservative’
opposition.

But
‘Obamacare’ is, in many respects, a conservative concept.
It is not socialism in any sense nor is it even liberal. It requires
everyone to purchase health insurance from private companies
so no one gets a free ride by showing up at the emergency room
seeking care. Insurance companies will still make their profit. It’s
no wonder that it was the system promoted by Mitt Romney in
Massachusetts (Remember that MR said he wanted to repeal it on the
national level — he never said he was against states
implementing such a policy.).

What
liberals wanted, by and large, was ‘single payer’ health
insurance — essentially everyone on Medicare. We do sort of have
that for the poorest individuals under the Obama system. I think it’s
a better approach, over all, than the private insurers concept. An
insurer is, after all, the same thing as a casino owner, taking in
the players’ money and paying out when one of them wins.

But
the house always wins in the long run. And we don’t even get to
look at any showgirls to distract us while we play.

Then
there is the socialist approach to medical care. That would be
for the hospitals and clinics to belong to the government. In a truly
socialist country, a sick person would simply walk in and be treated,
and no payments would change hands. Although I am generally not in
favor of socialism, per se, I don’t think that is such a bad idea.
It’s the way hospitals were run for a very long time when they were
operated by churches and such.

I
don’t particularly like the idea of the government actually running
hospitals, aside from the VA institutions and that sort of thing.
Government funding and
oversight of hospitals run by nonprofits or churches is another
thing. It provides a better balance of responsibility and
independence.

We
are doing that in a roundabout way, as it is, via insurance payments.
So why not cut out the middle man?

I
happened to land on the ‘Vegas’ series while flipping through the
channels last night. I didn’t watch the show (a rerun, apparently)
but noticed something that I wasn’t sure was period-specific: wire
shelving in the casino kitchen.

So
I looked it up and it seems the now-ubiquitous chromed wire units
were invented right around that time. They could have had them.
Cutting edge equipment might fit right into a fancy Las Vegas
kitchen.

I
don’t remember ever seeing wire shelving back then. The first time
I can recall it on television was on the ‘Highlander’ series. I
thought that industrial shelving in McLeod’s loft was very cool at
the time. Little did I know that everyone would be using it in a few
years!

There’s
a good bit of it in my home. It doesn’t make the best bookcases —
though usable — but is great in the kitchen (which didn’t have
much in the way of built-in cabinets), for linens, for art supplies,
etc.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Finally got the film in my 35 mm camera developed (no one near by does that anymore so I had to mail it off) and will be putting up some pictures here. I must say, it's nice to work with decent photos again after fooling around with cheapo low-rez digital stuff. Maybe someday I'll feel like investing in a good digital camera but for now I'm sticking with film.

Here are some snaps of the big oak tree being removed this past summer.

I read a while back -- was it last year? -- that genetics had shown that the vultures and condors were not, as had been commonly supposed, closely related to hawks and eagle. Rather, they come in for a landing on the stork family tree. The idea for this came for me while I was out edging the flowerbeds this morning so I came in and jotted it down.

It could have been longer. Itwas longer but I decided it was better trimmed back to this much and no more. Ha, maybe it would be even better if I trimmed it back to nothing...

Seriously though, recognizing what notto write is as important as writing itself.

I did not watch the election returns last night. Whoever won would still have won in the morning so I didn't see much point. Besides, 'Escape From New York' was on the THIS channel.

But during the night I had a dream (nightmare?) that, when I turned on my computer this morning, the headline at the the Huffington Post (the first news site I check over morning coffee) blared: Obama Blows It! Fortunately, it was not a prophetic dream.

I always assumed Obama would win reelection. All the odds were in his favor from the start. I'm something of a lukewarm supporter of his moderate 'New Democrat' ways (the idea that he is a socialist or even particularly liberal is a joke) but, as I've previously said, he was quite the lesser of evils. And I do recognize that he represents the mainstream of politics, both in America and the world.

However, I was disappointed by the third (and fourth and fifth) party showings. I suppose with the electorate as polarized as it was this year that it was inevitable that the big two would get most of the vote. 2016 may be quite another matter, with no incumbent in the race.

Friday, November 02, 2012

So,
election next week. I suppose anyone who reads my stuff knows I tend
toward the Green Party and, therefore, Jill Stein is my choice for
president. Even though she does not come off so much as Green as sort
of a European-style Social Democrat, I still consider her the best
choice.

Of
course, Stein has no chance of winning. The reason to vote for her is
to strengthen the position of the Green Party, to take a large enough
percentage of the vote that the organization is eligible for more
recognition, both official and public.

Now,
if I lived in a state that was firmly in the camp of either Obama or
Romney, I would not hesitate to vote for the Green candidate.
Florida, however, is one of those that could go either way, so I am
tempted to vote Obama as, by far, the lesser of two evils. Make no
mistake, though, both major parties and their candidates are beholden
to corporate interests.

*
* *

As
long as I am on politics, I would like to mention an issue that keeps
popping up: the ‘mandate’ that seems to so bother (many of) the
Catholic bishops. It is an issue that, naturally, so-called
conservatives have latched onto as a talking point.

By
the same logic of those who oppose paying for mandated health
coverage because they do not approve of some of the covered
procedures, a pacifist should be exempt from paying taxes to support
the military. The courts long ago knocked down that argument. A
pacifist may be exempt from military service but is still liable for
the taxes that pay for war.

Similarly,
the Catholic Church (and keep in mind that I am Seriously Catholic)
does not have to provide contraception but it has to pay what amounts
to a tax (according to the Supreme Court) to provide health coverage
for some of its indirect employees. That is hardly a
restriction of religious liberty — particularly in that those
employees are not required to choose such coverage themselves.

And
what if an employee chose to use his or her wages to buy
contraceptives? Would the Church not have to pay them anymore? I
think of employer-provided insurance as essentially part of ones
wages.

It’s
just not a valid argument. The Church should be focusing on real
issues, such as social justice. That was our mandate from the
start.